A JOLLY CHRISTMAS FROM FRANK SINATRA — Track #11: “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear”

“The world in solemn stillness lay…”

Frank’s birthday was December 12th. There are 12 tracks on A Jolly Christmas from Frank Sinatra — his first Christmas album, released by Capitol Records in 1957. We’ll bring them your way in order, between now and December 24.

Sinatra is known for singing songs set, “In the wee small hours of the morning, while the whole wide world is fast asleep,” yet this one has a different angle to it.

Written in 1849, “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear” is a poem and carol written by Edmund Sears, pastor of the Unitarian Church in Wayland, Massachusetts. The song is remarkable for its focus not on Bethlehem, but on contemporary issues of war and peace.

Here is Frank Sinatra backed by the Ralph Brewster Singers along with an orchestra conducted by Gordon Jenkins, performing, “that glorious song of old…”